Streaming media is commonly used to deliver television programs, movies and other digital media content over the Internet and other networks. At present, a variety of streaming audio, video and/or other media content is available to consumers. A large amount of video-on-demand (VOD) content, for example, is now available for network streaming from many different sources. Media streams are also used to deliver other types of media content including live and pre-recorded broadcast television, so-called “Internet (or IP) television”, stored media content (e.g., content stored in a remote storage digital video recorder (RSDVR)), placeshifted media content and many others.
At present, most adaptive streams are encoded with a single audio track. This presents somewhat of a challenge, since multiple language programs typically require separate encoding for each language. The multiple encodings can require a large amount of processing resources, and the multiple copies that result can create a relatively large volume of data to be stored on a server or delivery network.
It is therefore desirable to create systems, device and methods to improve the processing and delivery of audio content in adaptive media streams. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.